A Very Merry Marvel Thanksgiving

[wasafreak]

Thanksgiving hadn't been something Teddy anticipated celebrating, and even now that he's here, it feels odd. Not just the fact that his jaw is wired shut and he's got a brace on his leg, but the fact that he was invited to Captain America's house and arrived to find the original Cap and Bucky and alternate universe Peggy Carter setting up a pretty impressive Thanksgiving buffet is just so surreal. Steve greets them at the door with a genuine smile and pats Billy on the shoulder and ushers them in to get drinks, and Teddy tells himself he's paranoid and Bucky isn't shooting him and Billy a sideways look warning them off of getting caught making out in any more closets, and then reminds himself that this is real life.

Kind of.

Instead of agonizing over what an appropriate tropical island equivalent of 'nice Holiday sweater' was, he let Billy dress him (also literally, see again: brace) and thinks they made the right call- the house is all warm wood craftsman, and the three heroes already there are dressed casually but nicely, and there are old photos and some pretty incredible drawings hanging up, which distract Teddy and Billy to the point of rudeness, except Steve seems all too glad to tell them stories and answer questions. Bucky chimes in to remind him of details and it's... it's maybe the coolest thing that has ever happened, other than discovering his connection to the Avengers.

It relaxes him, and Teddy types up short phrases and sentences on his iPad when he feels really compelled to contribute, keeps "Happy Thanksgiving" on his clipboard to copy and paste it when new people arrive. It doesn't take more than an hour for a pretty respectable number of people to show up, the chatter growing in volume, and even though it's been a pretty crappy couple of months, and a pretty rough couple of years, Teddy finds himself feeling pretty good.

Comments

[notaparker]

"He was kind of a weirdly philosophical jerk when I talked to him," I say. "Which I guess makes sense if he turns into a dude with a crazy militant philosophy. But, I don't know, he seemed... reasonable. For a Magneto. I dunno, I haven't really talked to him since."

Because as noted, it's an uncomfortable situation. Especially when you were more unreasonable than the in-some-futures-but-not-necessarily-in-this-one-because-that's-judgey-mutant-terrorist.

[daretodo]

"We do a lot of that," I note, and immediately regret the choice of phrasing. Speaking in the third person -- even when I have a legitimate reason to be speaking in the third person, 'cause I'm referring to both of us -- always gives me creepy Venom flashbacks.

There's a guy I would punch on sight.

"Not talking, I mean. Guess it makes sense. It's usually kind of awkward." I wait an appropriately awkward beat. "Case in point."

[notaparker]

"Well, now you've said it's awkward, of couse it's going to awkward," I say.

Although he's right, it gets awkward without making it awkward by declaring it to be... awkward.

The word 'awkward' is now starting to lose all meaning in my head. It just sounds like I am thinking bird noises.

[daretodo]

"...yeah, I'm gonna actually go, now," I say after a suitably awkward silence. Now that I'm sure she's not gonna endanger the family name, so to speak, there's no real reason to stick around. I was on my way out, anyway.

"Just remember: no punching."